the murdochs certainly had the ear of britain's prime minister. in 15 months, david cameron has had 26 meetings with murdoch executives. more than twice the number of meetings he's had with any other news organization. how powerful was rupert murdoch here in britain? >> immensely powerful. the view of every prime minister for r e last 30 years is that no one can get elected without the blessing of the patriarch. >> reporter: it is now not clear that either murdoch can survive this crisis. news corporation shares have tumbled. if the company faces criminal charges, it could be forced to unload some of its most lucrative holdings in the u.s. including fox tv.ç this really is a dynasty on the brink. jeffrey kofman, abc news, london. >> what a drama. and kind of an ironic twist. some of the paper's websites were hacked last night, actually a fake story put out rupert murdoch was dead. that again was a fake story. a little irony there. >> a bit of irony as the story continues to grow and grow. i think the scope of it continues to get larger. >>> also